The present invention relates to suspension scaffold systems generally, including those having mobile roof vehicles.
Scaffolding systems have long been used to provide artisans with a suitable area from which they can work on the sides of buildings. Such scaffolding systems are used for a wide variety of purposes, ranging from use in applying siding to buildings under construction, to use in washing the windows of a completed building.
For instance, in building a conventional factory of rectangular configuration with a flat roof, metal wall panels must be installed on four walls. Using conventional scaffolding, the builder would construct the scaffolding along a first wall, fasten the metal panels into place, and then totally disassemble the scaffolding. This procedure would be repeated for each of the remaining three walls. Therefore, in such a rectangular building, the entire scaffolding must be assembled four times and disassembled four times. Many man-hours are expended on disassembling and rebuilding the scaffolding each time it needs to be moved. Great monetary savings, in the costs of operations which require scaffolding, can be realized if the need to continually disassemble and then reassemble the scaffolding, whenever it must be moved, can be eliminated or reduced.
It would be advantageous to provide a suspension scaffold system which would need to be assembled only once at the beginning of each job, which would need to be disassembled only once at the end of each job, and which could be easily moved along the sides of the buildings under construction during performance of the job.
Another disadvantage associated with conventional scaffolding concerns the relative difficulty encountered in suspending a plurality of work platforms from an overhead fixture. Typically, vertical ladders are provided for holding the ends of the work platforms and workmen scale these ladders in order to attach the work platforms in place. This procedure is fairly risky as concerns the safety of the workmen.
Another disadvantage associated with conventional suspension scaffolding concerns the extension and retraction of the booms or overhead fixtures from which the scaffolding is hung. This presently is accomplished by disassembling the scaffolding, or, where movable booms are provided, by having workmen manually push and pull the booms. This, of course, involves a significant degree of physical exertion inasmuch as the weight of the scaffolding and the booms themselves is considerable. It would be advantageous if a system were provided which could utilize the mechanical advantage afforded by conventional cable jacks normally found around scaffolding sites.